https://youtu.be/WoujzO8op8I

The chaotic atmosphere in the third floor made it appear to be some sort of attic. Boxes were everywhere, some tipped over to reveal they were filled with toys, books and other memorabilia, and the floorboards were polished to a sheen - no blood here, thankfully. It was very messy, and against the wall sat a plain, unmade double bed. Sitting in it, with a book in hand, was a vaguely familiar face that Inigo had to examine for a little while to recognise.

But he recognised him, alright. Though he wore a black mask over his mouth, it was clear that this was the same dark-skinned, white-haired, pink-eyed youth he'd asked for directions earlier today. Not having expected their paths to cross again, he stepped forward, his eyes focused on this man who was way too casual for the situation.

"We meet again." he announced, causing him to look up from his book, his eyes scanning him closely before lighting up in delight. Inigo's own eyes reflected a subtle anger as he continued. "So you're the serial killer, right?"

The man closed his book, shaking his head as he looked at Inigo, rising to his feet. "'Serial killer' would imply a set MO or a cooling-off period between the murders - a string of individual killings over a long course of time, often in different places!" he explained helpfully in his high, raspy voice, causing Inigo to narrow his eyes. "As these people died in the space of a few hours in a variety of ways, the term you're looking for is spree killer."

"Good to know." Inigo spat, bitter sarcasm lacing his voice. "But even a spree killer's got some kind of motive. What's yours?"

He stepped forward again, taking a moment to try and calm down. "Why kill so many people? Why play with their bodies like that? Killing them was disrespectful enough." he said. "And...those arrows. That writing. What was the point?"

"Oh? Why so serious?" the killer asked, dropping the book on the floor and tightening his black leather gloves. "Aren't you supposed to be into red jokes?"

"...I see. So you're with Libera."

"Yes, but also no!" the killer exclaimed. "I'm not a member of Libera per se, but they needed my services."

"So they hired a serial- spree killer?" Inigo raised an eyebrow. "Or are you some kind of hitman?"

"The latter. The spree killer thing is more of a side gig, honestly - I find the required skillsets are very transferable." he admitted, shrugging. "I don't think I've introduced myself, Red Joker. How rude of me."

He gazed at Inigo cheerfully, spreading his arms out as if gesturing towards himself. "Giving you my name would be stupid, so I won't be doing that." he said. "You can call me the Ravener - the Tori-tachi's fixer!"

"What, are you big in Han'ei or something? I've never heard of you."

"Correct! If you're familiar with the term 'yakuza', then I don't think anything else needs explaining." the Ravener said.

"I still need to know why you did that with the bodies." Inigo narrowed his eyes. "Was that really all just for some joke?"

"Eh. Only partially." the Ravener admitted. "See, the guy who hired me gave me a bit of information about you, and I decided to take advantage."

"...what kind of information?" Inigo lowered his voice, now staring at the assassin curiously.

"He said you were, and I quote, 'a pathetic, brainless rat who sticks his nose where he really shouldn't'." he explained, and Inigo felt more anger bubbling up inside him as he realised beyond all doubt who the employer was. "So I immediately realised - if I set up the most eccentric murder case I could think of, I'd eventually lure you to me! And then, I could kill you."

"...and it worked."

"Exactly! I figured nobody else would be stupid enough to follow a literal trail of corpses into an empty house!" the Ravener crowed. "On that front, I was mostly right - of the three people who did it, you're the first to get this far! Not sure whether to laugh at you or applaud your bravery, but I'll figure that out over your dead body."

"...I'll admit, you played things well. Read me like a book." Inigo shook his head, recognising that the trap had served its purpose. "So, what, are you hoping I'll just roll over and die now? Because I didn't get this far by being easy to kill."

https://youtu.be/OZ4eUrcWZmo

"...I was hoping you'd say that." the Ravener chuckled, spreading out his arms like wings while a pair of black, feather-like daggers appeared in his hands. "It's always so fun when they put up a fight!"

"Careful what you wish for, Ravener." Inigo summoned his cane, pointing it at him in return as he stepped back. The Ravener let out an amused laugh, twirling his daggers before making a quick, sudden leap across the bed and towards him. Inigo quickly jumped backwards, almost tripping over one of the boxes, and the Ravener didn't let up, hovering forth before slashing inwards with both of his blades.

Inigo moved sideways into a clearer spot in the room, where the Ravener followed him, slashing rhythmically while alternating between each dagger. His movements were like a deadly dance, elegant in their cruelty, and Inigo, with his swift and narrow dodges, was an excellent co-star. He spun away from his rotating swings, moved his head away when he went in for a stab, and waited for the right moment before he went in to jab his stomach with his cane.

Rather unexpectedly, however, his cudgel didn't shove him away, which was the intended effect. Instead, its body seemed to pass through his stomach as though he'd struck a ghost. Inigo raised an eyebrow, looking up at the Ravener, who had a mischievous glint in his eye.

Figuring this meant he was an Adept, Inigo removed his cane and attempted a few more jabbing attacks, while the Ravener stood there and allowed them to pass harmlessly through him. After a short while, Inigo stepped back and snapped his fingers, picking up one of the boxes in his psychic grip. The Ravener twirled his knives, whose blades glinted with dark purple Natura, and as Inigo tossed the box at him, he cut through it in a rapid flurry of slashes, destroying the box as the books inside poured out in front of him.

Never one to let go of a good opportunity, Inigo then waved his hand and caught the books in midair, making them close in on him. The Ravener spread his arms out, surrounding himself in a whirlpool of darkness that captured the books in its rotations, shredding them page by page. The moment he let the whirlpool down, he grabbed a hardbacked book cover and narrowly jumped out of the way of a blast of water from Inigo. As he landed, he hurled the cover at him like a discus, which Inigo dodged, having made sure he couldn't trip into any debris as he moved towards the staircase. The Ravener, unfazed, used the momentary distraction to continue his assault, jumping on top of a box and creating feather-shaped projectiles in his hands, tossing them like knives.

Inigo assembled his own magical projectiles - a storm of owl feathers made of water - and fired them at the Ravener, whose own feathers frequently collided with the competition, exploding in a burst of magic. The rest flew past to strike their opponents, Inigo dodging sideways while the Ravener jumped onto another box. Then, without warning, he threw one of his physical daggers at him and leapt towards him, grabbing his shoulders and almost making him fall. But Inigo was extra careful to maintain his footing, knowing he was close to the staircase.

Still, the Ravener pushed hard, trying to get him to fall, and Inigo pushed back, wanting to get him off. The Ravener didn't seem all that muscular, but he was still stronger than Inigo, and the blue-eyed amnesiac felt himself beginning to get overpowered. The murderer let out a mocking cackle, probably smiling beneath his mask.

"Nice scarf, Joker!" he exclaimed. "Looking forward to the fall?"

"It's called autumn, damn it." Inigo retorted, at once raising his knee in an attempt to strike his nether regions. Once again, his knee went right through, and the assassin shook his head, tutting, before pushing harder. Inigo, being forcibly moved, looked back at the steep staircase behind him and braced himself, preparing for his new, improvised Plan B. Rather than trying to push back against him, he pulled him towards him, the Ravener's eyes briefly widening in surprise before the impact knocked them both over and sent them tumbling down the stairs. While they fell, Inigo, whenever he could, punched his adversary, who eventually retaliated, the duo pettily trading blows in a scrappy imitation of fisticuffs before they landed on the second floor, Inigo on top.

The Ravener, once he felt they'd stopped rolling, looked up at Inigo and kicked him off, causing the latter to jump back and move to the side, further into the hall. The Ravener stood up, shaking his head and calling his knives to hand before pointing one at Inigo. "I think I'm gonna have a good time tonight..."

In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of Inigo and struck him with a triad of stabs to the chest. Inigo took the hits head-on before parrying the attempted fourth blow with his cane. The Ravener swiped at him with his other dagger only for him to step to the side, striking him with a cane jab that phased right through his shoulder. Inigo stepped back, aiming his cane at him and firing from its tip four water jets that were quickly dodged.

The Ravener jumped to his side and kicked off the wall, launching himself to another wall and repeating the process several times, gradually progressing towards Inigo. The Joker watched him closely, diving into his mind's ocean as he faced the one question throbbing in his mind;

"How the hell do I beat this guy?"

"He's about as fast as I am, so I can't outmanoeuvre him, and most of my attacks just go through him! Must be an Adept..."

He watched him repeatedly jump off the walls, quickly shifting out of the way to dodge a sudden knife-toss, and continued to keep an eye on him. When the Ravener suddenly leapt the rest of the distance towards him, he jumped up with a spinning kick, catching him in the gut and launching him back towards the wall. To his surprise, he phased right through the wall, seemingly coming out of the house entirely.

"Logically speaking, he can't attack while fully intangible...but why would he turn it on now?"

A few seconds after he said that, the Ravener phased through one of the doors behind him. He heard the footsteps of the criminal running towards him and turned around in time to watch the man jump over the circle of bodies. Quickly, he snapped his fingers, and as the Ravener brandished his knives, he commenced the second act of his danse macabre with the Joker. He twirled around, trying to slash Inigo, who was trying to focus on dodging, only raising his cane hand to parry the odd blade. Eventually, the Ravener raised an eyebrow and closed his eyes, and before Inigo could comment on that, he saw the framed painting phase through the criminal's head, slamming into Inigo's own forehead and staggering him briefly.

"Hoist by your own petard!" the Ravener exclaimed, using this chance to lunge forth and viciously stab him repeatedly, refusing to let a moment go to waste. Inigo stood and took the hits for a little while before coming to his senses and jumping back to safety.

He watched as the Ravener followed suit, getting into position to try and kick him. Cane in hand, he spun around to unleash a roundhouse kick, which phased through the Ravener's head. Before the latter could give any nonverbally smug response, however, Inigo's foot began spewing water, and as though it were propelled by a jet, suddenly reversed the kick in the opposite direction. The Ravener's eyes widened as he hastily ducked under the blow, and Inigo just barely regained his footing as he landed. But while he did this, Inigo was slowly coming to a realisation - a way he could possibly win this fight.

"Now, why would he do that?"

"He could've gone intangible, right?"

"Is there some kind of limit, or..."

He stayed focused, watching the assassin come to his senses and snap forth with his knives poised to strike Inigo's neck. Inigo moved to the side to dodge, and when the Ravener moved past him, he turned around to try and strike him again. But Inigo stayed focused on defense.

"...no."

"It's not just this one. He's been dodging all my water attacks. And only my water attacks."

"There's no reason for him to put so much effort into dodging..."

Swirling water began to surround his feet, but as the Ravener attacked him, he didn't seem to pay much attention to it. Inigo used his cane to fend off the ensuing knife strikes, readying his free hand and telegraphing a deadly right hook. His fist, predictably, phased right through his head-

"...unless he thought my attacks could hurt him!"

-and right as it did, he turned with the punch, spinning around to launch a blindingly-fast kick to the side of his head. The kick itself went through him as expected, but the blast of water attached to it seemed to take its toll. Inigo couldn't help the satisfied smirk as he landed, watching the Ravener stumble.

Far from being annoyed, however, the Ravener looked positively exhilarated, staring at Inigo with gleeful eyes as he recovered. "Haha! I'm gonna enjoy figuring out how to kill you!"

Inigo narrowed his eyes, preparing himself to attack, only to hear the sound of footsteps coming from downstairs. Slow, cautious footsteps, accompanied by quick, restless breathing. And for once, he found himself agreeing with the Ravener - for he couldn't conceive of anyone else stupid enough to enter this place. But whether to involve them in all this...

He made his decision quickly, forming a bubbling disc of water beneath his feet and hydro-springing above the Ravener to make it past him. The killer fired more shadow feathers at him, but he parried a few out of the air before landing. He turned to face him, firing rapid water blasts at him as he quickly walked backwards. The Ravener dodged just as rapidly, and when Inigo felt he was far enough, he turned around to face the staircase and jumped onto the bannister, sliding down to see who was there. He followed the sounds of movement, which led him to the living room - with all the dead servants and bloodstained rug. And standing in the middle of it was Scarlett, looking around with mild fear on her face and her crimson cutlass in her trembling hands.

"Scared of blood?" he asked, beginning to approach her, feeling a little uneasy about the lack of signs that the Ravener had followed him - just what was that man plotting? As he spoke, Scarlett jumped a little, only to quickly calm down upon realising it was just Inigo. As she smiled, taking a deep breath, he took the chance to continue talking. "Don't mind it. It's just the spree killer's masterwork."

"Okay, good, you're still alive." she said, clearly relieved as she stood up straight. "But...what's this you say about a spree killer?"

"Guy upstairs. He did this." Inigo pointed at the ceiling, while Scarlett looked up. "He can turn intangible, so you're gonna want to hit him with as much Natura as you can."

"Ah. So you're fighting..." she murmured. "I'm sorry, I think I know whose fault this is."

"Galileo's, I know." Inigo said, looking up only to see the Ravener's body poking out of the ceiling, upside down with daggers in hand and right in front of the chandelier. Quickly, he tugged on Scarlett's hand, beginning to drag her out of the way. "But fuck him, right now we need to survive!"

Scarlett looked up in confusion, only to start moving with him in panic as she saw the Ravener cut through the wire connecting the chandelier to the ceiling. The room suddenly went darker as it began to fall, and she just about managed to avoid getting hit. Before she could respond, the Ravener seeped through the ceiling and landed on the ground, twirling his knives once again.

"A threesome isn't really my style, Joker..." he murmured, watching as Inigo let go of Scarlett and the two of them held onto their weapons.

"I'll take any advantage I can get, Ravener." Inigo retorted. "This should go well. Now I know how to fight you."

"I don't know what Galileo told you to do," Scarlett frowned a little. "But I've got orders to protect this man, from the Mikado herself. I can't let you succeed."

"Is that so? Then who am I to object to a kill-one-get-one-free?"

The Ravener threw one of his daggers at Inigo, who parried it with his cane, and immediately rushed forth to target Scarlett. She raised her sword, ready to counter whatever he had to throw at her, and blocked a swift dagger strike. Her cutlass held in reverse grip, she continued to block him off; even when he called his other dagger and slashed at her, she successfully managed to parry every individual blow.

Inigo, rather than attack directly, psychically tossed the fallen chandelier into the air, and as it almost descended on the Ravener's head, it passed right through his body. While that happened, Inigo rapidly fired water feathers at him, nailing him in the side. Scarlett took advantage of this moment of distraction to light her sword with a brilliant crimson flame, and with a dance-like flourish, she whirled around multiple times, assaulting his intangible body while causing him to hiss in pain.

The Ravener jumped backwards, raising his hands and generating shadow feathers between his fingers, protruding like claws. Throwing his daggers into the air, he charged towards Scarlett and begun his final act. He swung his arms like a predator tearing into its prey, but as he saw Inigo preparing a water spell, he eased up on the offence a little to get ready to dodge.

He and Scarlett continued their deadly waltz, both trying to land a further hit on the other while trying to avoid taking blows themselves. The Ravener skilfully blocked Scarlett's attacks, while Scarlett managed to stay just out of reach of his counterattacks. Inigo, watching, generated a life-sized owl perched on his arm and, with a wave of the hand, sent it to fly towards the Ravener.

Recognising that Scarlett was using mostly physical attacks, the Ravener cut his losses and activated his intangibility, jumping through Scarlett's slash and away from the owl. But with a snap of Inigo's finger, the owl exploded into a massive cloud of mist, filling up the room. The Ravener, who had enjoyed his invulnerability, suddenly felt submerged in rock - he couldn't move through the cloud while continuing to be intangible.

Inigo, determined to make the most of this, memorised his position and repeatedly fired blasts of water from his cane, coming nearer by the moment. The Ravener tried to think of the best way out of this scenario, but Scarlett, realising what had happened, opened her eyes and unleashed a few quick flame-slashes before cloaking herself in her peacock-shaped flame aura and delivering one large, powerful slash.

That was enough. The Ravener undid his power, ducking under the attacks and making a break for it while the mist cleared up. He rifled through his jacket pocket, raising his hand and pulling out a black stone. The Joker had won today, he thought. He could accept that much. But he swore to himself that he would be back.

"To Yamazaki!"

https://youtu.be/GHiTkGaBmSM

And as the mist cleared away, Inigo and Scarlett were alone in the room, looking around cautiously before the former sighed. "I need to find out who's distributing those damn stones." he sighed. It was like every mafioso and their mother had one, and it didn't take a genius to work out how the Ravener had escaped.

Scarlett, more relieved than anything, sidled up to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder, smiling at him. "Hey, look on the bright side." she said. "At least he's not killing anyone else."

"Oh, great, a spree killer's successfully fled from someone who can deal with him. Smashing news, Scarlett."

"Yeah, but now you know how to deal with him in case you meet him again." Scarlett pointed out, patting his shoulder happily. "Plus, with him gone, you can focus on the real threat to your safety, right?"

Inigo looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously, do you want me to keep opposing you?" he asked, seemingly genuinely curious. Scarlett simply let out a nervous giggle before looking at him.

"So...pretty interesting night, right?" she asked, clearly trying to change the subject. "You were pretty cool back there!"

"You, too." Inigo replied. "You may have just been following orders, but I appreciate the help, anyway."

Scarlett beamed at the praise, slight though it may have been, and while she listened, Inigo raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you can fill me in on why those orders were given, though? I'm a little lost."

"What's there to be confused about? The Mikado wants you alive." Scarlett said simply. "I also like you alive, so I had no reason not to do this."

"Then why the fuck is Galileo trying to kill me?"

"Ah, I can see why that may complicate things." Scarlett grinned widely. "But have you considered that he's acting outside his directives because he hates you personally?"

"That checks out." he shrugged.

"It's a real shame, though, all this fighting..." Scarlett added, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. "I'm sure someone higher up at Libera would say something like 'if you'd just come peacefully, none of this would have to happen'. I feel for you, you know..."

"No need to pity me. I'm in this fight by choice." Inigo said. "I'm not just gonna let Libera take my freedom from me. Not while I can still fight for it."

As he spoke, Scarlett watched him with a twinkle in her eye - one of admiration, which didn't go unnoticed by Inigo. He realised right away that his talk of freedom resonated with her, which could only mean one thing:

"You're shackled..."